PreMortem.Games

MARCH 15, 2024

In Guntouchables by Danish indie developer Game Swing , enemies randomly power up from the upgrades that a team of four players can’t lift out of the levels. This leads to some unexpected and quite frankly, explosive situations as the game progresses. Game Swing was founded in 2013 by five Danish game design students.

Co-op 138

Co-op Playtesting Balance Art 138

PreMortem.Games

NOVEMBER 25, 2024

This approach creates a sense of wonder and discovery, empowering players to feel ‘agency’ as they explore the game. It’s a design method unlike many other games and something that took me time to fully grasp. Here, instead of asking players for feedback, we observed how they interacted with the game.

Playtesting 138

Playtesting Games Communications Technology 138

PreMortem.Games

MAY 24, 2024

Since childhood, Nicot always had a fascination with video games, but when it was time to pick a career, game designer wasn’t on the radar. He went into transportation management, but game development never really left his mind. The Sanctua game design document was 95% complete before I started coding.

Dev 239

Dev Games Co-op Game Designer 239

Brand Game Development

APRIL 27, 2020

Play-testing is the most important part of board game design. It’s how you turn rough, raw ideas into polished, ready-to-play games. Two groups that come to mind are the Tabletop Game Playtesters Guild and Card & Board Game Designers Guild. Visit your local game store. Final Thoughts.

Demo 130

Demo Playtesting Simulation Advertising 130

PreMortem.Games

APRIL 19, 2024

Things were getting serious three years later when Ryding decided to quit his job as a software engineer and work full time as a game developer. One of my close friends, Ches Denison, joined me working 5-10 hours a week as a playtester, game designer, and just a general jack-of-all-trades-guy.

Playtesting 129

Playtesting Games Mobile Mobile 129

Brand Game Development

NOVEMBER 28, 2016

Through playtesting, you can answer the question “do the mechanics suit the theme?”. Once you’ve got mechanics to suit a core theme, you can develop the theme a little more through art, story, and graphic design. Game design starts with theme and ends with theme, but most of the time is spent in mechanics.

Mechanics 100

Mechanics Playtesting Concepts Game Design 100

PreMortem.Games

DECEMBER 24, 2024

Or try to make a game designed to be loved by every person in the world. ChatGPT Tomasz Kaye had prior game development experience, with credits on Ibb & Obb and Chalo Chalo , but this time he went solo for his latest creation Axe Ghost. No amount of playtesting is ever enough, he says. War (what is it good for?)

Development 197

Development Dev Horror Playtesting 197

PreMortem.Games

MAY 1, 2023

BitCake Studio , an indie game development studio based in Brazil, is celebrating its 10th year in the industry. Eduardo Lamhut, the company’s main Game Designer and Creative Director of the upcoming game Atomic Picnic , explains how the company started. says Lamhut laughing.

Studios 104

Studios Build Playtesting Concepts 104

Ask a Game Dev

DECEMBER 8, 2023

After we set our estimate, we playtest it to see how it feels. If we don't like it or we were off in our estimations, we adjust, playtest, and repeat. A long fight should feel like a protracted fight and the time limit should reflect that. A short fight should feel like a sudden burst with a lot of pressure to finish it quickly.

Playtesting 52

Playtesting Fighting Dev Games 52

Brand Game Development

OCTOBER 23, 2017

Early in 2013, our local game store owner mentioned that there were other designers in the area. We had our first game design meetings, which I continued to organize and have been running since. Along with handling all the business, Ben has playtested and helped develop our designs.

Prototyping 130

Prototyping Playtesting Games Game Design 130

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 3, 2018

Yet the process, so heavy on rejection, has left many game designers heartbroken. Need help on your board game? Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. Board game publishers have to sort good from bad. They could be manufacturers, retailers, designers, or playtesters.

Games 130

Games Retail Game Design Game Designer 130

Interesting Choices

OCTOBER 5, 2011

Also wanted to give a quick update on my various boardgame designs: City Draft - This 7 Wonders inspired drafting game is consistently liked in playtests and has been improving slowly and steadily. The game feels too easy, doesn't have enough strategy, and doesn't seem to quite evoke the feelings that I'm looking for.

Game Design 40

Game Design Game Designer Playtesting Tile 40

Brand Game Development

SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

This week while working on my current board game design, a lot of things have come into focus. Now it’s time to start tweaking board game rules. This is where board game design often becomes very tricky. Need help on your board game? Playtest a Ton. I have some guidelines.

Balance 130

Balance Games Communications Mechanics 130

Sirlin

MARCH 16, 2015

All three of us were involved in this development and playtesting. The core game has simplified and streamlined rules and we go through each one and explain why we made these changes. We also cover all the new (optional) content and what it adds to the game. All three of us were involved in this development and playtesting.

Game Design 40

Game Design Game Designer Playtesting Editing 40

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Game Design and contributes to multiple interactive game projects. Passionate female developers Kathleen’s master’s thesis aims to shed light on the evolution of video games targeted towards girls. They created videos, and I could see them playing the game.

Game Developer 145

Game Developer Game Development Development Games 145

Brand Game Development

JANUARY 2, 2018

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the ninth of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? Games aren’t made by one person usually and definitely not in my case.

Playtesting 130

Playtesting Games Advertising Prototyping 130

PreMortem.Games

JULY 8, 2024

His turning point came in 2019 at Comic Con Africa, where he discovered a Game Design degree at Wits University’s stand. “I However, it still took a nudge from a dreadful experience in an Applied Mathematics class to propel him to switch from Computer Science to Game Design. It was great! I had so much fun with it.

Studios 129

Studios Educational Education Point and Click 129

PreMortem.Games

AUGUST 16, 2023

“We as a team learned from The Ancients to pace our enthusiasm and scale the game to the size of the studio. There are plenty of indie developers that say this and it’s possibly the most crucial part of game design and development.

Technology 104

Technology Indy Games Playtesting 104

PreMortem.Games

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

Exceptions upon exceptions Looking back at the development process, Kusters is amazed about the intricacy of Vic Davis’ original game design. “He He made this game, essentially on his own, in just over 18 months. Honestly, the hardest part of development has been raising this infernal design from the abyss. “Our

Studios 145

Studios Concepts Playtesting Development 145

Logic Simplified

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024

This sense of putting a player's abilities to use against a difficult situation in a game (challenge), and rewarding their potential for every challenge they overcome and every progress they make in the game (achievement), makes a player want to play. What is Level Design? Process of Level Designing and Game Development 1.

Mechanics 65

Mechanics Games Playtesting Prototyping 65

Ask a Game Dev

DECEMBER 14, 2023

The best way to get better at being a systems designer is to design game systems for games. This doesn't have to be designing systems for video games - a lot of system designers I know are extremely proficient card, board, and tabletop game designers too. Why or why not?

Playtesting 52

Playtesting Dev Build Game Designer 52

Brand Game Development

MAY 18, 2020

Join my community of over 2,000 game developers, artists, and passionate creators. Tabletop Simulator doesn’t just let people play before pledging, it’s also a great place to design and playtest games. This kicked off the momentum and got tons of people to try the game and leave feedback.

Simulation 130

Simulation Games Demo Playtesting 130

DameDev.tv

DECEMBER 12, 2022

(*Rick has more than 14 years experience in the game dev industry, working on IP's that include Mario, Transformers, Captain America and Mortal Kombat. He's done it all, from Game Designer, Producer, Creative Director and Executive Producer to GameDev.tv's 's very own Instructor extraordinaire).

Game Developer 90

Game Developer Game Development Development Dev 90

PreMortem.Games

OCTOBER 30, 2024

Playtest early. It forces me out of my comfort bubble and scope, and to consider the ideas of the people I’m making these games for.” It definitely affected the vibe of the game, making it darker and more depressing, but still having hope for the future.” It’s used to both fight enemies and solve puzzles.

Dev 104

Dev Puzzle Concepts Esports 104

Raph Koster

JULY 31, 2024

I’ve got a blog post up over on the Stars Reach website that walks through applying this to that game — check it out if you are curious to learn how SR is essentially a climate change metaphor!

Playtesting 52

Playtesting Fantasy Mechanics Games 52

Brand Game Development

JUNE 11, 2018

I’m a solo game designer/developer of strategy games on both analog and digital platforms! I’m currently working on releasing my first game, State of Wonder , as well three other projects on the side. Brandon: Thank you very much for agreeing to interview! Emelie: Thank you for having me!

Prototyping 130

Prototyping Games Localization Demo 130

Sirlin

OCTOBER 20, 2015

Codex is a new take on customizable card games. Last week I posted a new Raw Game Design podcast episode (for $10+ patrons) where I discuss "reset buttons" in Codex (cards that blow up the board so you can possibly come back from a very bad position). Last month, I offered early access to (physical) Codex cards.

Fantasy 52

Fantasy Fighting Balance Concepts 52

Game Dev Unchained

MAY 21, 2024

The involvement of the gaming community also extended to playtesting, where players had the opportunity to experience early versions of the game and provide constructive feedback. “Playtesting is a crucial part of our development process,” James emphasized.

Game Developer 52

Game Developer Game Development Development Balance 52

Keith Burgun

APRIL 14, 2024

I had a playtest with a friend of mine one day, and he noted that we have a lot of resources and they are all kind of “similar” We had gold, mana, health, storm shards, and blast tokens, and they all kind of felt the same in how they moved throughout the game. +1 Anyway, onto the breakthrough.

Concepts 69

Concepts Playtesting Game Design Game Designer 69

PreMortem.Games

AUGUST 15, 2023

An example could be: "The project you're currently on is getting close to the first Beta test, and you've just finished implementing an important game system, the Skill Tree. During the following Playtesting session, the game designer is unimpressed with the current state, mentioning missing features.

Studios 104

Studios Engine Engineering Communications 104

DameDev.tv

OCTOBER 7, 2022

(*Rick has more than 14 years experience in the game dev industry, working on IP's that include Mario, Transformers, Captain America and Mortal Kombat. He's done it all, from Game Designer, Producer, Creative Director and Executive Producer to GameDev.tv's Hosting Your Game On Itch.io

Dev 52

Dev Bug Games Playtesting 52

Keith Burgun

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

I’ve also got a lot of design help from incredible game designers Brett Lowey and Pete Siecienski getting the game to where it is now. I’ve also gotten graphic design help from the amazing pro graphic designer Jenny Bee. So overall this is going to be one amazing looking, awesome playing game.

Playtesting 52

Playtesting Writing Graphics Fighting 52

Keith Burgun

JANUARY 4, 2023

It’s good at moments like these – moments where you’re kind of at a loss, and wondering whether you’re maybe just a bad game designer or something – to just ask yourself, what am I trying to do here? I really appreciate the design work that’s happening in this space, and I want to be a part of it.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Game Design Game Designer Playtesting 52

Designer Notes

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

Game designers would just be guessing. So, what can games simulate? Strangely, the best example I can think of is a game trying to recreate a situation MUCH more difficult to simulate than baseball, life as a border agent in a totalitarian country. However, Wright was not making a game in the abstract.

Simulation 78

Simulation Agent Game Design Game Designer 78

Brand Game Development

DECEMBER 26, 2017

Board game development is a very individual process. Every single developer has different methods for creating their games. This article is the eighth of a 19-part suite on board game design and development. Need help on your board game? Playtesting storytelling. Parting advice. Brandon: Okay, last question.

Art 130

Art Mechanics Games Game Development 130

Game Dev Unchained

JULY 5, 2023

In fact, their team took a lot of inspiration from games like CS:GO and other tactical shooters, such as Battlefield. The philosophy behind this approach was to create an experience accessible to those with lower-end hardware, similar to how Riot Games designed Valorant to run on minimal specs.

Indy 105

Indy Game Developer Game Development Development 105

Grumpy Gamer

JANUARY 18, 2018

I had worked at Lucasfilm for 8 years and learned a lot, not just about game design and programming, but also marketing, PR, and production and I felt like I needed to try it all for myself. I also had the idea of making adventure games for kids. I floated it by Lucasfilm Games and they weren't interested.

Puzzle 52

Puzzle Point and Click Playtesting Art 52